US 12,406,389 B2
Vehicle space morphing
Mahmoud Yousef Ghannam, Canton, MI (US); and John Robert Van Wiemeersch, Novi, MI (US)
Assigned to Ford Global Technologies, LLC, Dearborn, MI (US)
Filed by Ford Global Technologies, LLC, Dearborn, MI (US)
Filed on Mar. 16, 2023, as Appl. No. 18/122,292.
Prior Publication US 2024/0312043 A1, Sep. 19, 2024
Int. Cl. G06T 7/70 (2017.01); G01S 17/89 (2020.01); G06V 20/59 (2022.01)
CPC G06T 7/70 (2017.01) [G01S 17/89 (2013.01); G06V 20/59 (2022.01); G06T 2207/10028 (2013.01); G06T 2207/30268 (2013.01)] 18 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A method for determining spatial availability for a compartment of a vehicle, the method comprising:
generating, via at least one time-of-flight sensor, a first point cloud representing the compartment of the vehicle, the first point cloud including three-dimensional positional information of the compartment;
calculating, via processing circuitry in communication with the at least one time-of-flight sensor, spatial information corresponding to a target configuration for the compartment;
comparing, via the processing circuitry, the spatial information to the first point cloud;
determining an availability of the target configuration based on the comparison of the spatial information to the first point cloud;
identifying cargo in the compartment based on the first point cloud; and
estimating a load distribution of the cargo, wherein determining the availability is based further on the load distribution.